Judging by the ABC commercial (below): butt shots of hot actresses, a show featuring the guy-friendly fare like The Avengers, and the comedy of show host Seth MacFarlane, writer and creator of young-male-magnet cartoons like Family Guy and American Dad and the dirty-teddy-bear comedy Ted:

Time for me to turn in my Guy Card, I guess. I’ll give ABC credit for taking a chance. But where James Franco and Anne Hathaway were inept two years ago, and Billy Crystal was fine-but-dull a year ago, MacFarlane was uncomfortable, smarmy, unfunny — and not even bad in any memorably creative way.

MacFarlane, who’s known to fans of his shows but perhaps less so as a nonanimated entertainer, was a risk for the Academy, and must have known he was coming in with a target on his back. So he delivered an opening routine that was all about inoculating himself against bad reviews, with William Shatner as James T. Kirk returning from the future to warn him against a disastrous performance, including a song directed at Hollywood women called, “We Saw Your Boobs.”

See, it wasn’t a drawn-out, obnoxious Oscar song; it was a joke about doing a drawn-out, obnoxious Oscar song!

The problem — and the problem with his whole table-setting performance — is: first, a metajoke about telling an unfunny joke is still an unfunny joke.

And second, the Oscars are not about the host. People watching the Oscars care about being entertained. They care, maybe, about what movie will win. They care whether MacFarlane will make them laugh. But they’re not, unless they are MacFarlane’s agent or family, wondering “Is Seth MacFarlane going to get good reviews in the morning?” I should be biased toward any Oscar performance that pretends TV critics are that important in the larger scheme of things, but even I can’t fool myself about that one.

As Family Guy proves, MacFarlane can make up for quality with quantity, and there were some decent bits in the opening, especially a sequence that re-created the movie Flight with sock puppets. But the opening, overall, was tentative and filled with dead spots that a more practiced comedian might have gotten past.

His comedy also had a nasty streak, especially concerning women. Zero Dark Thirty’s dogged CIA agent, played by Jessica Chastain, was a tribute to “every woman’s innate ability to never, ever let anything go.” After Adele sang, MacFarlane joked that movie critic Rex Reed — who recently called Melissa McCarthy a “hippo” — would be on in a moment to review her. Adele’s a plus-size lady, get it? (Earlier, introducing co-presenters McCarthy and Paul Rudd, MacFarlane cracked: “See if you can tell ’em apart!”)

The host sets the tone for the awards, giving the audience permission to have a good time, and the rhythm of the evening felt off from the get-go. But I can’t blame MacFarlane for all of that. It was a clunkily produced, drearily long show, with some truly horrid scripted patter that stranded some talented actors. (A quintet from The Avengers cast needed a superhero to rescue them from an endless introduction.) And there were some flat-out bizarre production choices, like the decision to play off long-winded winners with the music from Jaws — which might have worked as a gag, once, except it really wasn’t one. They were just actually playing people off to Jaws.

The night’s theme was “Music in Movies,” which played to another MacFarlane skill set: he’s got a genuine love of show tunes and a decent set of pipes. (He got to indulge his inner theater geek with a funny, non sequitur re-creation of the von Trapp family escape at the end of The Sound of Music, just before introducing Christopher Plummer.)

If the “boobs” song and the like fell flat, the music did salvage some moments in the show: in particular, Shirley Bassey showed that decades later, she can still ravish the most distinctive pronunciation in Bond songs (“Gold-fingAH!”). But there was also a bizarre amount of attention lavished on the 10-year-old movie Chicago, the last musical to win Best Picture but not exactly a landmark in cinema history. (Awkwardly, the producers of the Oscars, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, were producers of Chicago, and so spent a good part of the night honoring … themselves?)

The Oscars are finally about the awards, though, and toward the end of a very long show, the ceremony got a spark of life from some surprises and moving speeches. Jennifer Lawrence charmed in her underdog win, tripping on the way up to the podium and recovering by telling the crowd, “You guys are just standing up because you feel bad that I fell.” (She and Adele share that rare, disarming gift of making the world feel delighted for their own wild good fortune.) Daniel Day-Lewis accepted Best Actor from Meryl Streep and joked, “I had actually committed to playing Margaret Thatcher.”

Ben Affleck gave a charmingly broken-up thank you on Argo’s Best Picture win, which was announced, in a bizarre twist, by Michelle Obama, via a live feed from D.C. (How uncomfortable would it have been had Best Picture gone to political hot-potato Zero Dark Thirty?) Even MacFarlane seemed looser, and funnier in small doses, as the night went on. Before Streep took the stage, he said, “Our next presenter needs no introduction” — and walked off.

Before I even read the comments here, I’m going to guess that people who really like MacFarlane and his 10-jokes-a-minute Family Guy also liked his Oscars: particularly young viewers and male viewers, MacFarlane’s core audience, who don’t necessarily tune in for the Oscars. (Disclosure: I’m middle-aged and agree with the South Park guys that Family Guy plays like it’s written by manatees.) And that, after all, was probably what ABC was going for with “an Oscars the guys can enjoy”: not an Oscar that only young men would watch, but an Oscars watched by everyone who would watch them regardless, plus young men. Young men who are also big fans of Chicago and Les Miz.

It may work well for them; we’ll have to see the ratings. (It will also probably help that this was a more commercially successful crop of Best Picture nominees than in some recent years.) But it was also up, for a key hour, against The Walking Dead, a show that’s huge among young male viewers. Want an Oscar the guys can enjoy? It might need more zombies.

Dragon City Hack This is excellent news [...] to Montreal that will count in a few years, a new tourist destination, "was welcomed at the time Anie Samson, mayor of Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-extension.
Dragon City Cheat

The show was great. Hollywood, Jewish Organizations, and Entertainment writers need to get over themselves and remember that laughing at yourself, making fun of youself is healthy and at the core, a basic part of America. Remember, what is the first thing facists want to censor "Comedy".

I'm a woman over the age of 50 and I thought that Seth MacFarlane was a breath of fresh air. I laughed out loud during the "We Saw Your Boobs" song. Also, I think he is an outstanding singer and comedian and I loved the cameo from Captain Kirk (William Shatner). I think that the Academy Awards are often stuffy and dull, Seth really livened things up and he's *really* cute and talented imo. (I actually think he's a very good singer and he's multi-talented obviously). I also have a teenage son who loves all his shows "Family Guy", etc.....

I don't understand why some people are so offended. (Mainly liberals). I'm an Independent, btw.

Seth can host the Oscars anytime in the future and I will watch, I think he's a comic genius.... I hope he does the radio and television correspondent's dinner in the future.

I don't have a lot of time to write an extensive respond to your post here, However, If you think Chicago is "not exactly a landmark in cinema history" everything else you said in this post just became irrelevant. You should take a film studies or a film appreciation class before you offer your opinion on what is or isn't a Landmark in cinema history.

'After Adele sang, MacFarlane joked that movie critic Rex Reed — who recently called Melissa McCarthy a “hippo” — would be on in a moment to review her. Adele’s a plus-size lady, get it? (Earlier, introducing co-presenters McCarthy and Paul Rudd, MacFarlane cracked: “See if you can tell ’em apart!”)'

I'm not a fan of Seth McFarlane's filthy and/or politically incorrect sense of humour, and I loathe Family Guy, but he was clearly having a go at Rex Reed, not Adele or Melissa McCarthy, and in the joke about McCarthy and Paul Rudd it wasn't a slight against either, it was just a quip. I hate to defend the guy, but I think you're reading sinister motives into jokes that simply aren't that complex.

I'm think you're just hatin' :). Last year's Oscars felt like a funeral ceremony (A bit extreme) but I found THIS one to be pretty good. Actually for the first time I sat through the whole show. Yes the jokes were the similar, old style but still I had a few LOLs. Seth was like a breath of fresh air hosting the Oscars. Im glad it wasnt Tina Fey either because that wouldve felt very Tina Feyish SNL style. I'd give him a 88/100. They should ask Jim Carrey or Tatum Channing or Jamie Fox, Kristen Bell and Kristen Wig. BTW Charlize Theron did great :)

The Oscars and EVERYONE that knows his work knew he goes after everyone. I am a 30 year old woman who thought some people take everything TOO seriously. Soooo no one refers to Monster as the flick where Charlize SHOWS her BOOBS? So, since she is an Oscar darling, it can only be known as an artistic and tasteful nude moment? Give me a break! You are right, had I known that Seth was hosting I would have bothered to watch! I only ever watch to wait until Leonardo DiCaprio finally gets his Oscar or not, then realize they are just going to jerk him around again and turn the channel? Titanic? Okay, too soon. Revolutionary Road? no The Departed? No? INCEPTION?? For the love of god!! Django? Figures. Cheers to him for skipping out and then enjoying some models on a boat! The only exception to this snob fest was Jennifer Lawrence who doesn't take herself too seriously and calls people on their BS self importance. BY THE WAY, South Park lover, no one talks about their little love fest with this show because it is played out. Filthy jokes are better when there is an intelligent point behind it. s**t **** f***e* over and over for no rhyme or reason is just lame. Team America? Plastic Barbie dolls and a golden shower? Is that tasteful to this lame "reviewer"?

This is not an intelligent article. There have been far worse hosts, your assumption that Seth was offensive to women is ridiculous because he was offensive to everyone (Chris Brown?!?), and his comedy was light hearted with the right amount of sting to counter balance the innate stuffiness the Oscars usually produce. Seth seemed reasonably tame (for him) with the right amount of sarcastic humor we would look for. Maybe not an A+, but better than the vast majority of hosts (Murphy, Franco, recent Crystal).

Are we just going to ignore the fact that Ricky Gervais hosted multiple Golden Globes, was far WORSE with the offensive jokes, and yet they invited him back? I think HE was brilliant there and Seth was really trying to take a page out of his book and the only thing that was wrong was that he had to PULL punches, because everybody was already getting on his case. I think he was a genius here, even going so far as to predict that he was going to get panned by the critics. Plus he knows humility, and used it as well. I'm honestly at a loss as to how horribly everybody took his hosting. Get over it people there are more important things in the world to get worked up about, and bringing some humility to celebrities onstage is not one of them.

And once again one man's opinion is answered with what reads to be sincere hostility from dutiful blog hunters. Why read an article, with a title that one could deduce may or may not offend them, and then choose to comment on said article with all the protest that you would expect against a hate crime? It's a critic's take on an award show! -_- Which only beguiles me a fraction more than the point behind watching celebrities pat themselves on the back. There is something to be said about magazines; a physical issue of Time may be worth the subscription if one can avoid the comment section of a website.

This is the problem with critics and Hollywood these days. Though are so bent on taking their "trade" seriously that they miss the pleasure of everything. Most of America noticed that a majority of the starlets were "in" on the "boob" number as they had pre-recorded parts in it. Most in attendance after said he made them laugh. Yet James has to be so uptight about his work and decides that he is above this non-sense. They brought in a guy with this humor. He knocked it out of the park. Look at your comments. The numbers went up. If you want lame, kissing up and bad jokes that go on for 4 hours go get Leno. Right now, the numbers and most people's funny bone say you are wrong.

The worst ever Oscar
Award presenter has to be Will Rogers, famous for his catchphrase “I never met
a man I didn’t like to have sex with” (or something). Rogers was presenting the
award for Best Director. Two of the nominees were Frank Capra and Frank Lloyd.
Instead of reading the winner’s name off the card, Will Rogers ad-libbed “Come
up here and get it, Frank.” Lloyd (obviously tipped off beforehand that he
had won) strode confidently to the podium. Frank Capraalso rose from his seat and walked to the
podium because a) he didn’t get the memo that he didn’t win, and b) his name
was frickin’ FRANK. Realizing his mistake, Capra slinked back to his seat
red-faced with embarrassment. He later called it “the most humiliating moment
in my entire life”.

Thank you for writing this--I've read a lot of commentary that echoes the view that the "high school boys locker room" humor Seth uses is just the "shot in the arm of irreverance" the Oscars needed. People, boys locker room humor is as old as the hills--young men and old fuddyduddies have been saying the same things for sooooo long. It's lazy. Not to mention that most power brokers in Hollywood (and everywhere else) are white dudes. So putting down women and girls, who already have less power, and then telling them hey, we're just joking, get over yourself, is Old News--nothing young and edgy there. Just teaching the young men how to keep the young women in their places. And boring as hell, btw. Give me Colbert any day. You have to work harder, but it's worth it.

Honestly people? Having a sense of humor and being able to laugh at your own stereotypes is a liberating feeling. I thought he did a wonderful job making jokes about everything and everyone. In life either laugh, cry or get angry.... I choose to laugh because it just makes the world a better place. Get a sense of humor.

This is not about politics, this is about comedy. Those vehemently and viciously defending McFarlane are doing so because of politics. Mostly because he is gay and an outspoken atheist. So of course everyone who sees how mcFarlane is not funny is labeled as either an old fuddy duddy who doesn't understand modern humor, OR a "bible thumper". The oscars needs someone with wit and class, and McFarlane has neither. As a woman, a liberal modern woman, I find Seth's sexism disgusting. So he is not funny and offensive at the same time. He ruined the Oscars and made an ass out of himself.

OK , now I'll "critique" the entertainment portion of the Oscar show, which Mr. Poniewozik should also have done. Channing Tatum and Charlize Theron dancing, awesome tribute to "Fred and Ginger", most musical numbers OK, Shirley Bassey stole Adele's thunder, Streisand appearance touching, Michielle Obama's "appearance" fun. [There, Weinstein's, is that enough 'Thank You' for the campaign donations?] The tribute to "50 years of James Bond" a disappointing 'flop' More watchable than usual, I managed to stay awake for the usual interminable affair

I beg to differ, Mr. Poniewozik, or I should say, I most heartedly disagree, you young "whippersnapper". Seth McFarlane was a little awkward, but overall very good. His "high school boy's locker room" humor is just what the creaky, dusty, old Oscars needed. A good shot in the arm of irreverence. His humor reflects what younger audiences want and expect. That's what the Academy wanted, a younger audience, and they got it. Not the best Oscar show, but better than anything in recent years. Have you seen the 'fodder" that fills the multiplexes between blockbusters? Juvenile, sexual, sexist humor. McFarlane is a good observer of American morals and mores, and he skewers them like Stewart and Colbert. Mr. Poniewozik, your "elitism" is showing. be careful. I'm an old "Boomer", and I like the new age of social media and it;s adherents.

The vicious venom of Davidcaldwell posts in response to all comments is indicative of the hate, scorn, ridicule, and rudeness as presented by seth mcfarlane's entertainment. Davidcaldwell and others defending their precious avatar, resort to name-calling, crudely offensive insults and immature put-downs ( about age (old), and sex (female). Davidcaldwell attacks one comment with the accusative --"Do you have a vagina?"which, in his world is evidently a authoritative put-down! He thunders, Lincoln died 150 years ago"to a mild statement about enjoying everything but the Lincoln joke. He asked another if it "was time to change her tampon?" He called another "old", and "a christian pansy" Another poster got the disgusting :"You are either a troll or beyond sheltered and your parents ruined you. Go thump a bible." Someone got a gratuitous, " Congratulations on being a terrible person." His favorite weapon of choice? Accusing commenters of the crime of old age (this a favorite technique of several Seth fans. In a very immature way, they seem to believe somehow that being "old" is hateful and a good way to score-dunk an insult on a soft target. They are wrong, people reading such posts wonder why this species of attack could hope to harm anyone who is mature and doesn't feel age is an aggrieved condition. Davecaldwell posts:"Of course you didn't like it. You are so old you probably only caught one or two words for the whole three and a half hours." Davidcaldwell & friends (megmulvey shout out) have enough hate to spare for all-comers, and eagerly await new victims to insult. He is a troll of the first order, and all of those defending Seth are peculiarly offensive in trying to prove their point. They enjoy their own viciousness, matching Seth in aggressive churlishness.. They agree that Seth is wildly funny even classy!,Pointedly, they refuse to see AnYthing off-putting about his comments or acknowledge their brutish bullying behavior to condemn, mock and ridicule mercilessly anyone who does. Sometimes ganging up for a one-two punch on another victim who staggers into the conversation (megmulvey with davidcaldwell). Bizarrely, they're self-congratulatory in identifying themselves as fans and don't seem to see the irony of their claim to appreciate humor in seth's act. I don't think they are have a shred of humor in them, they are not laughing so much as relishing and savoring the maliciousness. Evidently these put-downs and insults masquerade as humor in their world.

PURE BULLCRAP...Speak for yourself and you alone, The ratings for the show were through the roof...the only real Neilsen...the twitter verse was entertained and positive comments outweighed the negative two to one. It was clear the live audience had not the slightest problem with his jokes. And as for the Boob song I hope they reprise it every year with an update like "In Memorial". Clearly the actress' were in on the joke as they feigned disgust as per the skit. I imagine Kate Winslet was laughing hardest of all if you have ever seen or heard of her sense of humor. And how exactly is his "anti-semetic"joke any different from Robin Williams "Motherlode" shtick. Have we suddenly decided there is not a Jewish presence in Hollywood. They were among the first innovators and artists. No one begrudges their contribution anymore than we begrudge there being many African Americans in the NBA. IT WAS A JOKE...and was purposely mocked as stupid by Mark Whalberg...Lighten up you pretentious hack.So sick of this politically correct bullcrap.He made fun of EVERYONE..get it.

You don't hire Seth Macfarlane to make family-friendly jokes or kiss celebrities asses on stage, you hire him for his personality and cutting edge humor. I felt he did a fantastic job. I was also surprised at how well he sung and dance. The ratings also did well. If you want this show to stay relevant, you have to appeal to our younger generation. Billy Crystal can't live forever.

Think for yourself, kids. I mean wtf, like seriously, whytf would you read some random dude's opinion of a show you watched anyway? Are you unable to form your own opinion? And yeah, sure, this guy's overwritten, meritless review is a joke. But I take no offense, for I wouldn't hang out with a dude who reviews the Oscars. But that's my choice. All I'm trying to say is: if you liked it yay! if you didn't boo! Seriously.

C'mon, get over it. Seth was great. Look at the ratings... makes me think all those critics, including the writer are too old to be our morality police. It was GREAT! He brought a lot of freshness to a show that has been losing the younger set.

i agree with the author. As a guy, I just don't find McFarlane funny when he plays misogynist -- and definitely not on Family Guy (which has become 85% jokes at women's expense). What some of y'all don't get is that being meta about your debasing every woman on your program doesn't make it any less damaging to our culture. And sorry, but comparing Mcfarlane to Colbert doesn't work: Colbert make his satire clear and provides enough context to deliver a point. McFarlane just hides his abusiveness under the guise of shock and absurd humor. I think he's got some issues (hell we all do), but he has no qualms putting it out there on the big stage like it's alright.

The Oscars are serious---serious money, serious influence. There were very serious and thoughtful pieces of art under scrutiny last night. Great humor provides a necessary levity to all the tears and hugging and patting on the back and long sincere thank yous. But last night's humor was a cheap trick---the C-grade movie jokes have been there done that. It's not new to joke about boobs, or murder---we've heard it for centuries. Even Seth seemed tired of himself by the end. And he's so talented! He has great timing, great moves, a lovely voice. AGELESS, TIMELESS humor can play to younger and older generations and we could really stand to be laughing together once in a while. And in response most objections I've heard to last night were from 20 somethings in the arts.

To everyone that is trashing McFarlane as this year's host, I just want to say that this is the first time in my life that I have watched the Oscars without my parents forcing me to do so. I am 27 and have never actually watched the Oscars and enjoyed it. Thank you ABC for allowing someone to host the Oscars that can speak to my generation without boring us to sleep.

I am glad this guy mentioned early on that nobody cares about TV critics. Because this guy does not deserve to be one. Thanks to Seth this was one of the first Oscar ceremonies I have been able to sit through for a very long time. Clearly he either has no sense of what real humor is, or he is so old that he only likes "good, clean" humor. Either way I find him pathetic and to be a bit of a pansy.

Some of you people take the Oscars WAY too seriously. It is just an award ceremony people! Haha! The awards are given to Hollywood FROM Hollywood. How pretentious is that! Haha! Give me a break! If you win best actor it does not mean you were the best actor. It just means that a bunch of people that take themselves way to seriously decided to give you an award for playing pretend! Good grief!

Old people are dull. Old people don't go to the movies - they just watch the Oscars. They think Billy Crystal is funny. He WAS in the 90's. Now he's boring and his humor is not memorable. How's that for generalizing? By the way, not everyone thinks the Oscars were awkward.

Seth MacFarlane's humor is off-color, but it also highlights some problems in Hollywood that some people, especially the old establishment, would rather just gloss over and pretend doesn't exist. Just like another commenter said, this article IS a dud. James Poniewozik is an old person in a middle-aged person's clothes.

This article is a dud! I totally disagree with this author - I thought MacFarlane was great. In fact, is anything, he may have been a little too measured. This author is full of it with his criticism that MacFarlane was nasty to women - give me a break Mr. Sensitive. It's called COMEDY!

BTW, some trivia on MacFarlane. He was suppose to be on Flight 11 that was flown into the WTC on 9/11 but he was late for his flight. Lucky guy.

MEMO TO JAMES PONIEWOZIK: Your description of Seth MacFarlane's introduction was totally misleading. People were laughing and clapping for the entire time. Just watch the video below for further proof:

Seth McFarlane used potty humor because he was trying to rope in the young people...I thought his songs were very inappropriate and he went over the top...Boob jokes, give me a break...Way too much...Not enough class...He tried, but he was inept...Oh for the days of a vigorous Billy Crystal, or a Bob Hope...These were the days of fast pace humor; jokes that did not insult anyone...it was a different time and place in America... I was offended by the appearance of the FLOTUS....It was way too political and it seems like the government even tries to get into our long standing traditions...like the Oscars...Big Brother is here...and he is in your living room...If Barbara Bush had done that appearance the MSM would have criticized her and tarred and feathered her...but of course the Dear Leader's wife is above reproach...cannot criticize her...I did love Jennifer Hudson, Adele, Babs, and the wonderful Shirley Bassey...incredible talents...this was the classy part of the show..they have to find a host that the public feels comfortable with...and that is hard to do...all in all it wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either

Male viewers much be the most uneducated, insipid, pieces of excrement watching the Oscars these days then..yay lets celebrate the sexism and low brow adolescent humor of the adolescent male. Let's pander to the most gender that watches the most porno, slams women and then says 'get a sense of humor honey....this says a lot about the dumbing down of the American male doesn't it? Too bad we don't have a draft to weed out this lot of idiots.

It was a little confusing to see them honor Chicago, but
that little fact about the producers being connected to the show makes
everything clear.You are right about
how things picked up at the end, and I really enjoyed Affleck’s speech.I missed the awards because I was working
late at DISH last night, but thankfully I was able to catch up this morning.I love how my DISH Hopper records everything
on ABC during primetime without individual timers, so I never have to worry
about missing my anything when something comes up at work.

Anyone can do childish, sexiest jokes. Its not difficult. Goto any comedy club and you will see z-list jokers running thru boob and fart jokes. Yes, they get laughs Its not rocket science. What is rocket science is being classy, funny and entertaining without resorting to crude humor. Not everyone can do it. Seth proved that.